Wenatchee launches Junior City Council, students sworn in as “next generation at the table”

WENATCHEE — Wenatchee’s first-ever Junior City Council made its full public debut Wednesday night — and one of its members immediately got thrown into the deep end.

Alex Reeg was asked to stand and lead the full Wenatchee City Council, staff and public in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Junior City Council is a new youth advisory body made up of nine Wenatchee high school students. Seven will serve as voting members and two will serve as alternates. They’ll meet monthly, learn how city government runs, and begin sitting alongside Wenatchee City Council at future meetings.

“Our council is comprised of seven voting members and two alternates,” Reeg told council. “We had our applications around the end of September, and we were informed about three weeks ago that we were on the council. It’s been a great experience so far. We’ve been learning our Robert’s Rules [of Order] and our parliamentary ordinances, and it’s been great. Super excited.”

Councilmember Mayra Navarro-Gomez said the city received more than 17 applications for the nine seats.

“We just want to congratulate them for their effort,” Navarro-Gomez said. “Thank you for your time and dedication and all your future efforts for our city.”

Each student held the mic, introduced themselves, and stayed up front for photos with the mayor and council. The inaugural Junior City Council roster, in order of how they were introduced (and from right to left in the photos above):

• Brayah Maughan — sophomore
  
  
• Betzy Espinoza — sophomore
  
  
• Xiyun Tang — freshman
  
  
• Isabella Garcia — junior
  
  
• Anais Velazquez — junior
  
  
• Jessie Evans — junior
  
  
• Marina Esquivel Garibay — senior
  
  
• Alex Reeg — senior
  
  
• Luisanna Esquivel — senior
  
  

Espinoza said she joined because she didn’t just want to complain about problems — she wanted to help shape solutions.

“I joined this because I thought it was a great opportunity to get involved with my community and just to come up with new projects, or just learn about what people our age have problems with or need help with or things that we can improve,” she said. “I think it’s just a great opportunity to build my leadership skills and share my ideas with everyone in this group.”

The adults on the dais didn’t try to hide how happy they were to have them.

“You guys are incredible,” Councilmember Charlie Atkinson told the group. “It’s beyond yourselves. It’s thinking bigger than yourself, and I think that’s so important. I’m so proud of all of you.”

Mayor Mike Poirier said it’s hard to believe the city had never undertaken something like this already.

“It’s kind of surprising we never did it before,” Poirier said.

The Junior City Council will typically meet on the first Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. Because of the holidays, the schedule will bounce a bit between now and February. Their next meeting is November 13. Junior City Council members will “be sitting up there,” Navarro-Gomez said — meaning physically on the dais at future meetings.

Poirier also asked Reeg about structure: “Do you have, like, a second chair in case you don’t show up?”

“We don’t have that,” Reeg said, getting a laugh. He confirmed he’s serving as chair, but there isn’t yet a designated vice chair.

After introductions, council had the students turn and greet each councilmember one by one. Council also told them they were welcome to duck out early — it’s a school night — but several of them stayed through presentations on tourism, economic development, and Wenatchee’s sister city relationship with Misawa, Japan.

Navarro-Gomez ended the segment with a line that sounded a little like pride and a little like expectation.

“Next meeting, they will be sitting up there,” she said.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media